GOOD MORNING: Keyless entry is easy to love

Friday

Mar 17, 2017 at 12:01 AM

By William C. Wadsack Herald Democrat

I think my favorite thing about my car, which I’ve had for about 15 months, is the keyless entry that only requires me to open the handle to get into the car. It’s so nice not having to fumble for my keys every time I approach my car that it annoys me when I have to do just that for my front door.

Keyless entry is pretty common these days, but my car automatically unlocks whenever the key fob approaches the driver’s side door. It was a feature my wife got when she got a new car a few years ago and I knew I wanted to get it when I got a new vehicle.

She’s now jealous of my car because it also automatically unlocks all the doors when someone with a key fob approaches the front passenger door. If she tries to put something in her car on the passenger side, she’s got to get out her keys and physically unlock the doors by pushing a button. All I have to do is touch the front door handle on the passenger side.

And with an infant son, that’s a big help when I’m taking him to day care in the mornings.

I’ve also got push button ignition, so my keys never have to come out of my pocket. In fact, I wasn’t even given a key, all I have is a key fob. That took a little getting used to, at first I would always pull my keys out as I approached the vehicle, but it didn’t take very long to get it down.

A few years ago, I worked with a woman who also had keyless entry and push button ignition and she said her favorite part of it was not having to search her purse everyday for her keys. However, as she parked right next to her office, she was always concerned she’d forget her keys inside but they’d still be close enough for the car to start. She was convinced she’d eventually drive off only to have her car die halfway down the street.

When I was purchasing my car, I asked about that scenario and was assured the vehicle could tell whether the keys were inside the car or not. And it’s proven that by not letting me lock my keys inside it.